Well known to those in the general Kilrany population who still cared for politics, the unadorned, circular room in which all sessions of the Quinquevirate were recorded featured no doors, no windows, nor even any visible means of illumination. Yet in spite of these rather glaring deficiencies, it was easily accessible to council members at a moments notice, and was softly lit with a warm light that seemed to radiate as if from all directions.
While normally all sessions were a matter of public record for anyone to access, as a result of the isolated nature of Midgard, no non-Kilrany had as of yet witnessed any of these recorded sessions of the Quinquevirate. This extended even to fellow members of Hermes, none of whom had yet traveled to the immense construct that enclosed the Midgard star in a kilometers thick shell, serving to quite effectively seal off its population from the rest of the universe.
Though this was a fact not likely to change anytime soon; at least in regards to non-Hermes members, for the first time in millennia, a full gathering of the Quinquevirate was going unrecorded, at least for the moment.
Standing in a circle half the room’s diameter, the three men and two women of Slavic descent who comprised this council appeared to be dressed in comfortable, non-descript black uniforms, and currently stood in classical at ease positions. Facing inwards towards a lone sixth figure in the center of the room, a waist high podium shaped like an upside down letter L stood in front of each.
Slightly taller then the five members of the Quinquevirate, this sixth figure wore a separate style of black uniform that was partially concealed under sections of body armour, while their face was hidden by a form fitting helmet. What truly set this person apart however was the large emblem that prominently took up most of their chest piece, a blood red dragon’s head well known to most Kilrany.
Promptly at that moment, this sixth figure simply snapped out of existence, leaving the Quinquevirate members in silence for several seconds before Komarov; current head of the council, spoke slowly and evenly, “I would have to agree with the Tvoratzii, however before we begin, I move to have access to this session restricted to Kilrany military eyes only for the sake of secrecy and deniability.”
Glancing towards his right, he added, “Now I presume you’re going to have an objection to this Volkova?”
With a very slight shake of her head, Volkova replied simply, “I do not, no.”
A raised eyebrow from both Komarov and Marakova prompted her to elaborate with only a moment’s pause, “In light of recent events, I too must agree with the opinion of the Tvoratzii. We simply know too little, and it is costing us. We lost Tendryakova and all those aboard to a ludicrously simple misunderstanding with a race we knew nothing about, and almost lost and entire convoy to a race we also knew nothing about.”
Standing almost directly across from Volkova, a slight smile formed upon the face of Marakova, “I’m glad to see a change of heart from you Volkova, no matter how minor it may be.”
When no response came from Volkova, Komarov chose to continue, “Very well then, if there are no objections, access to this session will be restricted, and is now called to order. Up for discussion is the authorization of unrestricted covert operations against any potential threat to Midgard for the purposes of gathering intelligence and subverting hostile activity.”
-----
It was roughly two weeks before the signs of the decisions made during this closed session of the Kilrany government began to show themselves. It had taken this long to seek out the required volunteers, draw up new designs, and allocate the necessary resources for the construction of this new equipment.
The most noticeable of these came about in a thoroughly uninteresting solar system far from Midgard, currently unclaimed by anyone for fairly obvious reasons. Barren save for a few small hunks of rock, a space station of relatively large size popped up as if overnight in orbit around the lone red giant at the heart of the system.
This new corporate headquarters would not be stumbled across soon, but was not alone in the system, as a small task force worth of ships had appeared along with it. Like the station, they did not share any overall design features in common with Kilrany warships, of which only the United Alliance of Planet’s had even seen a single example of, and technologically they were outfitted with different weapons and equipment to further ensure no similarities.
While their goals for this newly formed Arcani Corporation were broad, the Kilrany were patient, and started this part of their plan slowly, for in a universe where new races and corporations sprang up on a daily basis, what major interstellar power in the Milky Way was going to care about the appearance of yet another small private military corporation offering a variety of services at a reasonable price.